Amazon’s pricing policies have pushed up the prices of third-party seller products on the marketplace, alleges a consumer group which is mounting a class action against the e-commerce giant.
The Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) has announced it is starting collective proceedings against Amazon on behalf of more than 45 million consumers that bought from third-party sellers on the site between August 2019 and August 2025.
The ACSO says Amazon’s pricing policies prevent third-party sellers from offering lower prices for their products elsewhere. It alleges that these policies “protect Amazon from healthy price competition” from other platforms, allowing “Amazon to charge sellers higher fees, which UK consumers end up paying for in the form of higher prices on Amazon”.
The ACSO says affected consumers “could therefore be due compensation for the losses suffered”.
“Millions of people in the UK make purchases on Amazon every day. Despite the company’s assurances that it is above all else ‘customer-obsessed’, we consider there are strong grounds to argue that UK consumers have paid higher prices because of Amazon’s pricing policies,” said Matthew Maxwell-Scott, founder and executive director of ACSO.
“Collective actions such as these are an excellent way for consumers to exercise their rights and for anti-competitive corporate behaviour to be challenged,” he added.
An Amazon spokesman told The Grocer that “the claim is without merit and we’re confident that will become clear through the legal process”.
”Amazon features offers that provide customers with low prices and fast delivery. In fact, according to independent analysis by Profitero, Amazon has maintained its position as the lowest-priced online retailer in the UK for the fifth consecutive year. We remain committed to supporting the 100,000 independent businesses that sell their products on our UK store, which generate billions of pounds in export sales every year,” the spokesman added.
Amazon investigations
Amazon’s pricing policies were investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (now the UK Competition and Markets Authority) in 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office in 2013, and the Japan Fair Trade Commission in 2016.
Following each of these investigations, Amazon committed to ceasing.
ACSO alleges that Amazon circumvented its own commitments to cease its “anti-competitive conduct” by implementing its current pricing policies, which remain in place today.
The German Federal Cartel Office and the Japan Fair Trade Commission are currently investigating Amazon’s price parity policies, as is the Canadian Competition Bureau.
ACSO’s proposed collective proceedings follow the US Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing court proceedings against Amazon in relation to its pricing policies, which were first brought in September 2023 following a four-year investigation. A trial is expected to take place in early 2027.
The State of California also investigated Amazon’s pricing policies and filed a lawsuit against Amazon in September 2022. These proceedings are ongoing, and a trial is expected to take place in 2026.
The ACSO has filed an application for a collective proceedings order with the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Following a hearing, the tribunal will decide whether the claim can proceed and on ACSO’s suitability as class representative.
ACSO has instructed the law firm Stephenson Harwood for the proposed proceedings.
“Amazon appears to have circumvented previous regulatory interventions targeting its pricing policies and is now implementing policies which we contend are anti-competitive, to the detriment of UK consumers,” said Genevieve Quierin, partner at Stephenson Harwood.
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